HSBC is offering what it says is the lowest mortgage rate in New Zealand in over fifty years.
It is promoting a rate of 3.95 percent for 18 month loans to its "premier" customers.
That is lower than the 3.99 percent offer that SBS Bank put into the market for a limited time late last year.
There are strings attached. Customers must have a twenty percent deposit and have their salary paid into an HSBC account.
They also need a minimum of $500,000 in home loans and / or savings and investments of $100,000.
But it is a sign that competition is heating up again in the mortgage market.
Advisors say the banks are prepared to offer discounts to their advertised rates.